Hubble crew boards space shuttle for practice run

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The seven astronauts scheduled to fly NASA's last mission to the Hubble Space Telescope climbed aboard their spaceship Wednesday as part of practice countdown for the launch.

Lift-off of shuttle Atlantis remains targeted for October 10. But NASA is expected to delay the mission's start by a few days to make up training time lost when the Johnson Space Centre in Houston was shut down for Hurricane Ike and because of delays loading Hubble's new gear inside the shuttle.

"We're still working with the whole system to balance that," shuttle Atlantis commander Scott Altman said. "In the end, I think we're going to try to do most of our training and that, of course, may mean a bit of a slip. But it's being evaluated and we're kind of standing by."

NASA managers meeting at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Wednesday were expected to make a launch date recommendation that will be considered by the agency's program directors next week.

Atlantis' mission will be the fifth to upgrade and repair the Hubble observatory, which flies about 300 miles (480 km) above Earth. The crew plans to install two new science instruments, replace its batteries and gyroscopes and attempt repairs of two broken cameras. NASA expects the mission to last 11 days and include five challenging spacewalks.

The shuttle's six-man, one-woman crew completed a three-day training exercise at the space Centre that culminated with a dress rehearsal for launch day.

Altman and his crew -- pilot Gregory Johnson, flight engineer Megan McArthur and spacewalkers John Grunsfeld, Michael Massimino, Andrew Feustel and Michael Good -- donned their bright orange pressurized flight suits and scrambled into their assigned seats aboard Atlantis.

The shuttle is perched at its seaside launch pad. A second shuttle, Endeavour, is being prepared for launch in case the crew needs to be rescued, as Atlantis will not be able to reach the International Space Station for shelter.

NASA added the rescue capability following the loss of the shuttle Columbia and its crew of seven astronauts in 2003. Columbia was damaged during launch by debris and broke apart as it flew through the atmosphere for landing. Crews now also inspect their ships for damage after reaching orbit.

The shutdown of the Johnson Space Centre forced the crew to miss four spacewalk training exercises in the centre's gigantic swimming pool. They also missed two simulations with flight controllers at Johnson and the Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland, which oversees Hubble's operations, and a launch simulation to train for emergency procedures, Altman said.

Ideally, NASA would like to fly the Hubble servicing mission and launch Endeavour on a space station construction mission before November 25, when sun angles become unacceptable for a shuttle to be parked at the orbital outpost.

The agency has 10 flights remaining for the program before the three-ship fleet is retired in 2010.

(Edited by Jane Sutton)